Goodbye, For Now
by McGarrett-Williams
Summary: Written for Spyridon for Cannonball Run 2013 Fic Fest on quarter-mile LJ: Missing scene from Fast Five - Brian and Vince talk during "Fast Five" and come to a truce before V's death.


**Goodbye, For Now**

**Status:** Complete

**Pairings:** Brian O'Conner/Mia Toretto, Vince/Rosa

**Additional Categories:** Canon, Missing Scene

**Genre:** Angst, Hurt, Comfort

**Series/Episodes:** Picks up after the ambush in „Fast Five".

**Rating:** Teen for language.

**Warnings:** None

**Spoilers:** None

**Summary:** Brian and Vince finally come to a truce just before Vince's death

**Series/Sequels:** N/A

**Author's Note:** Written for **Spyridon** for 2013 Cannonball Run fic fest prompt: Brian and Vince talk during „Fast Five" and come to a truce before V's death.

Oh, and one more thing. There will be no past Mia/Vince, not even mentions. This and Brian/Monica are pairings I consider a no-go. Sorry. Just my personal opinion.

* * *

They had now all safely gathered in the Gurkha, minus Hobbs' team who were all dead on the streets. Everybody seemed to be all right, except for Vince. He was now in the back of the vehicle with a huge bullet wound, slowly bleeding to death.

Brian looked on in utter sadness. Yeah, Vince surely was not his favorite person, but you couldn't say it did not affect him when he saw Vince bleeding to death. He watched as Dom was tending on the wound, while his mind flashed back to those bad encounters with Vince.

* * *

„_Yo, try Fatburger from now on. You can get yourself a double cheese with fries for just $2.95, faggot," Vince shouted at Brian as he was leaving the Toretto's Market._

„_I like the tuna here."_

„_Bullshit, asshole, no one likes the tuna here!"_

„_Well, I do."_

_This was it. The next second Vince shot forward and slammed Brian against the red Ford Lightning pickup._

_Brian had just descended from Hector's garage, when he suddenly felt a sharp pain and was knocked out._

_When he slowly regained consciousness, he saw Bince holding a shotgun to his face. „He moans like a cop," Vince said._

_Then Dom suddenly appeared out of nowhere. „Brian, this is one of those times that you need to be very clear about say. Nod if you understand me."_

* * *

Then his mind quickly flashed forward to the failed heist and how he had to get Vince off the truck with Mia driving the Supra and then calling the Medevac. Shit. If he had been just a minute late, Vince would have died on the side of the road. But now, there was nothing he could to. They were in unfriendly territory, with Reyes's men all around, and no Medevac to call.

But there was still one thing he needed to do. His mind flashed back to his teenage years in Barstow.

* * *

_This morning, 16-year old Brian O'Conner was again leaving home, the shitty trailer, without his backpack._

„_Hey, Brian!" his mom shouted. „Didn't you forget something behind?"_

„_No, mom, I didn't."_

„_Oh yeah? You're gonna play truant again today?"_

„_Yeah. Look, I know too damn well that you sure are getting nowhere with the dead-end job waitressing at the sleazy bar, so I'll try to earn us some more money, maybe not the legal way."_

„_Bullshit, Brian! You need to be at school, not stealing cars for some punk-ass pimp shop owner. And I spoke to your teachers a few days ago, your grades have totally dropped. Especially at Algebra, where you only have F's, and in all others you got C's and D's. Your only good ones were English, History and PE, where you got A's. Now grab your backpack and get your lousy ass to school."_

„_No!"_

„_Do you want to end up in San Quentin as a convicted serial murderer and drug dealer who had no other choice than becoming a criminal just because he didn't want to attend high school and thought that boosting cars was more important?"_

„_Mom! Give me a break!"_

„_Brian, I give you a break when get your ass to school."_

„_Sorry, mom. Can't do that."_

_As soon as he had finished the sentence he felt a sharp sting in his left cheek and saw his mother's arm swing out._

„_You don't get to say that to me, Brian! I'm your mother and I'm the one who calls the shots for you. Even since your dad died, I'm your sole custodian. Don't even think of rising up against me and trying to live your life your own criminal way! Get up. Now take your backpack and go to school."_

_But this time Brian went totally mad and lost himself to the anger. „Fuck you, mom, get a life! You're failing to see I've grown up? Stop treating me like I'm still five!" he yelled and pushed her, and ran out of the trailer before she could get up._

_Eventually, Brian arrived to Buena Vista Street and saw the car that his chop shop boss wanted, a 1987 Pontiac Firebird, parked just across the street. He now used his usual carjacking tactics again, and in five minutes he had successfully broken into the Pontiac. But just as he was about to hotwire it, he was all of a sudden surrounded by cops from all sides. A cop now yanked him out of the car and pinned him down to the ground._

_However, as the cops had successfully managed to link Brian to many other past carjackings, things were now looking bad for him. Just three days later, Brian found himself standing before the judge in San Bernardino County courthouse. And the trial resulted with Brian being sentenced to 30 months in Victorville Juvenile Hall._

_Brian had now been in juvie for seventeen months, when one day, when he was pacing around in the juvie, he was suddenly approached by a guard. „Brian O'Conner?"_

„_Yes, that would be me."_

„_Your mother was found dead today in the trailer. Cause of death was drug overdose and lung cancer from heavy smoking. Anyway, you are allowed to attend her funeral and pay your respects, but the whole time you will be kept under watch by one of our guards who will accompany you there, so don't try anything funny."_

_Brian began to feel guilty. Quite possibly why his mom had gotten hooked up on drugs and now had died was him. He had failed to see that she was just looking out for him, no matter that they were living in the shitty trailer, and she just didn't want him to also end up becoming a fat trailer park queen or a Death Row inmate. But now she was dead and there was nothing he could do now about it. Also, he suddenly reminded how he was rude to her the last time he had seen her._

_After the funeral, Brian began to feel very miserable. He was never given any time to clear the air with his mom, as all the time he had spent in the juvie and she decided not to step in when he was sent to juvie. And now he was totally on his own, and with his low high school GPA, barely above 1.0, and a 17-month juvenile stint, soon to be continued with the another 13 months, he would not really have a good future ahead of him._

* * *

Brian snapped back to Earth. He never had the time to make amends with his mom, and they were left on a sour note and they never met each other again. Yeah, he wasn't really a good son. His eyes turned back to a dying Vince. They may not have much time left, but at least he could probably use it to make amends with him.

„Dom, I need to talk to Vince. Try to clear the air between us while he's still alive."

„Alright, make it quick."

Brian now slowly moved over to Vince. „Vince, I need to talk to you quickly. I don't want to feel guilty when you die, so I'd just want to try to clear the air between us."

„Alright, buster. I'm listening."

„Look, I know it is very late now, but I'm sorry for everything I did. However, some things about the LA stint seem to be a mystery to me. I know all that you were loyal to Dom since you two met in third grade, and everything. But I don't really understand why you already saw me as a cop before I even blew my cover. I had managed to blend in as Spilner, but you were already hating me since day one. Were you just jealous over Mia, or what?"

„Well, I kind of was jealous over Mia. I was always into her but she never loved me back. Don't know if she really didn't like me or just didn't date Dom's friends. But even though we never were a couple, I became sort of a second Dom to her while Dom himself went to Lompoc. I had promised Dom that I would keep the family safe and sound, and I kind of became over-protective."

Brian's mind flashed back to yesterday. He was waiting for Mia to come back from the shopping, and was quite shocked when she walked in with Vince. He and Dom were ready to react, considering how Vince had put them all in danger with the job involving stealing the three cars from the train, and then Vince had double-crossed them when he had just sneaked up and taken the chip from the GT40's GPS. This was when Dom had finally turned against his childhood friend and told him to get out.

„_Reyes's guys were waiting for me at the market, and Vince saved my life,"_ he thought of Mia's words. Vince was slowly starting to become less of an asshole now. So Brian then thanked Vince for saving Mia and offered him a handshake. And Vince finally accepted it. The ice between them was slowly starting to melt.

„Yeah, I get that. But look where it got you in the very end. You warned Dom that I was a cop, but he never listened to you and let his family go down the drain. And look where we are now."

„He really didn't and now we're all stuck in this life in Rio, with the only way out being pulling the heist. But nevertheless, I'm also sort of starting to think that maybe you really weren't the worst. I mean, you could have easily turned us all in in LA, but you didn't and instead chose to let Dom go and became a fugitive yourself. And five years later, you again chose Dom over the FBI career."

„Yeah. Yeah, I did. Anyway, how did you end up here in Rio after all that?"

„After I recovered in the hospital, I got thrown to jail for ten years, but on the way to the prison the bus suddenly crashed and I managed to make a run for it. First to Mexico, then I eventually got a ticket to Rio." Vince now started to cough, and it sounded like he was hacking up a lung again. „Life wasn't easy at first, but then I met Rosa. She eventually saved me from myself, and then we got married. While in the old team, I never imagined someone being a parent and getting married apart from Mia."

„I believe you on that. Well, can we get back to the main subject now? I know it would not be easy for you to forgive me after all I did, so we couldn't really become the best of friends. But can we at least reach some sort of agreement or truce, at least end this hostility?"

„I don't know if I can still trust you after all this. But even though I warned everybody about you being a cop, in the end Mia still chose you over me. And it's not like there's anything I can do about it now," Vince suddenly started hacking up a lung again and had to slow down. „Well, even though she didn't love me, I still couldn't see her getting hurt. So as for you, take good care of her, otherwise I might come back and kick your ass even as a ghost. Even though she didn't return my feelings, I think that if you protect her and make her happy, then I'll have to get used to you being around her again, especially now that you knocked her up."

„Right. Don't worry, I won't repeat the same mistake I did in LA again. You know I love her too much to hurt her."

„Well, then we're good on it. Oh, and I never really thanked you for saving me from the truck. It's a bit late now, but well, I'll do it now. Come here."

This was it. Brian reached closer, and accepted the hand Vince offered him. They shook hands one last time, before the Gurkha arrived back at the safehouse. Neither of them noticed the slight nod of approval Dom gave them. Brian now helped Dom carry Vince into the safehouse.

„Hey Dom, you haven't met my son," Vince said in great pain. „Nico."

„I will."

„He's a good kid. You know, we named him after you." When Dom looked at Vince in surprise, Vince said: „Domi-nic."

„You have my word, Vince. You were always my brother."

Brian looked at it in mixed emotions. But the only thing he was happy about now was that he had finally managed to make amends with Vince. Yeah, too bad it hadn't happened earlier, but right now when Vince had got killed.

**END**


End file.
